Monster that They see

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I did a quick scan of the area around me, then went through the warehouse door. The two guards who had been on duty were incapacitated, orange electricity still surged around them, arcing over their metal body armor and giving off an eerie glow in the low light of the building. I carefully walked passed them, and started to looking for an entrance to the lab. I looked among the crates until I noticed something odd. A steady red light from one of the crates in the back. I slowly moved forward toward the light. When I reach the crate I find the red light is coming from a card reader.

Looks like I found my way in, I think to myself. I slip the card into the slot until I hear a beep and the light turns green. The front of the crate swings open to reveal an elevator, clever. I pull out the key card, place it in my pocket and then step into the elevator. Inside I press the button for sub-level three on the control panel. The door closes as I hear the pulley system slowly wake to life and lower the metal box.

I relax for a moment, trying to calm my nerves. I was tense, but in the belly of the beast, I had a right to be. I heard a small ding and a shake that told the elevator had stopped, but the ride seemed to short. I looked above the door and the adrenaline that I had tried to purge from my system came rushing back. The display showed two. I was on sub-level two, not three. I heard voices outside the door. Splendid, not even five minutes in and everything was already starting to crack. I searched in vain for a place to hide, fighting would raise an alarm, something I could not afford at the moment, but a thought struck me at the last possible moment and I prayed that it worked. The two guards, laughing over a joke at the expense of their boss, entered into the elevator.

“But any way, where are you headed?” said one of the guards.

“Sub-level three, the doc wants his favorite pets checked on again,” said the other.

The first guard shivered, “Glad you got that job, I can't stand them. Their too smart. Always trying to find a way out, especially the panther, its eyes always give me nightmares.”

“Yeah, and smart enough to insult you back too. That cheetah can be really sarcastic, little prick.”

I listened to their conversation from the top of the elevator, the emergency hatch opened just enough so that I could see them. I now knew two of the species that I was looking for. A panther and a cheetah, both big cats, I knew the general smell of big cats. I slowly moved the hatch over more, waiting for my chance. One of the guards looked down at his watch, looking away from the other, that's when I struck. I jumped down onto the other guard knocking him out, then turned to face the other.

“What do you think of the other thou-?” he froze before he could finish his sentence. He couldn't comprehend the thing before him. Dark grey skin, a tail, feathers, and the eyes, yellow green eyes, cold and calculating. He watched his life flash before him in those eyes and it didn't end well. He watched in fear as it reached over and hit the stop button on the elevator, jerking it to a halt.

I slowly moved toward him, forcing him to back up into the side of the elevator. He tried to reach his side arm, but I was faster. I quickly grabbed him by the throat and picked him up off the floor, his eyes almost glowed with fear, good.

I barred my teeth and hissed, making him flinch, “Tell me what I want, and I may not kill you, understand?”

he nodded quickly in little jerks of his head.

“Good, now, where are the panther and cheetah?” I growled.

“First left from elevator, all the way to the end, then right all the way back,” he choked out.